DEAR DEIDRE: One evening we were enjoying video sex, the next my online girlfriend ghosted me. I feel completely blindsided and my brother reckons I’ve been scammed.
The worst part is, this isn’t the first time this has happened. Now two women blocked me soon after I sent them money.
I feel like a total mug. I thought these women were enjoying spending time with me.
They both originally contacted me via Facebook. My recent girlfriend seemed particularly lovely. She said she was 28 and her profile picture showed her standing by a swimming pool and smiling.
She lived in the Philippines, told me all about her family and wanted to get to know me.
I’m a guy of 37 and I’ve never had a long term relationship. We had a lot in common. We both love swimming and even had birthdays in the same month.
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We’d talk every night via text and sometimes she’d be able to get her video camera working. On a couple of occasions she even stripped off for me and we had video sex.
We even started to plan a holiday to Thailand together. When she asked if I’d send her some money so that she could buy a suitcase and new clothes, I didn’t see a problem. I sent her £500 and she thanked me. Next she blocked me.
My first girlfriend was from Africa. We talked for three months and she invited me to go and stay with her family.
We even talked about marriage. When she asked me to send a gift card so she could buy a dress for our engagement party I readily sent it. That was the last I heard from her.
MORE FROM DEAR DEIDRE
DEIDRE SAYS: There are plenty of genuine people out there who want to build relationships but if somebody approaches you out of the blue, that should raise a red flag.
If your Facebook profile is public the first lady may have suggested you had similar interests because of the clues you gave away – your job, your family and your birthday for instance.
Contact Action Fraud (actionfraud.police.uk, Tel: 0300 123 2040) who may be able to stop this from happening to somebody else.
Check out ‘romance scams’ on their website which tells you more about them. My support pack called Love Online shows what to look out for.
The main takeaway is it is never advisable to send money to someone you have only met online.
